back woods chopper?

C

crawfordew

Joined
Sep 25, 2002
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187
Anyone using the Ontario Backwoods Chopper machete? The 12" with 1/8" thick blade looks like it would be a good "big chopper" for the BOB. Opinions? Experience?
Gene
 
I haven't heard of it. Do you have a link to any pics? Sounds interesting.
 
I have the 18" sawback model. The machete is good, the sawback is marginal. As for use in a BOB that would depend on your location and type of terrain. I used a 12" machete in a survival class and found it to be great for building a shelter. Get one and use it, good deal for the price. My two cents.
 
I have used these, the basic profile is sound, the initial edge is likely to need some work, but the basic shape should be there. Both ones I used were brittle and broke easily on hardwoods, other Ontario's I have used were similar, others bent too easily, others held up fine.

There are better places to buy machetes which have consistently better blades. Martindale for example has a much wider range of blades and far better quality.

-Cliff
 
Originally posted by Cliff Stamp
Both ones I used were brittle and broke easily on hardwoods, other Ontario's I have used were similar, others bent too easily, others held up fine.-Cliff
Click to expand...
Ontario's are made of 1095.

Cliff, did you fracture or chip the edge in chopping type use, or did they break when given a whack on the flat side? (short answer is fine, or a link to the test info).

What do you suspect the problem is with Ontarios... improper tempering after quench, left too soft (bending too easily)? (the post above where you say both "brittle" and "bent" makes it sound like they have both some too soft and some too hard, i.e. very poor control over heat treat).
 
Both machetes fractured very quickly (minutes) when chopping small diameter hardwoods (dead trees). Large quarter sized pieces were lost.

Yes, I have seen both types of behavior, too weak and too brittle on the Spec Plus line. Light prying with one blade can snap it easily, and another can take a bend too soon.

There are lots of possible reasons; variation in soak temperature and times, time from quench to temper, gradients in the quenchant etc. .

This is the central problem in juding performance of a brand from a small sample when the QC is bad. The results can vary widely from person to person.

Joe Talmadge and Mike Swaim both speak highly of Ontario machetes, and I have no doubt that they have performed very well for them. I also have no doubt that it I bought enough I could get a few solid ones.

With better QC controls the variance drops and consistency is produced. Look at the reports on the Swamp Rats for example, there is no such variance in the behavior due to the much tighter manufacturing processes.

I have seen very good behavior on the Tramontina machetes I have used, however I don't recommend them in spite of this, because I have read lots of reports, and talked to lots of users who have seen vastly different behavior.

The simple fact is that there are much better alternatives. Martindale for the machetes, and Becker and Swamp Rat for the knives.

-Cliff
 
The Valiant Goloks are indeed very nice blades for thick wood working and at which they excell over machetes mainly due to a lower binding rate, and being much smoother in the cut due to the thin and full convex profile and very nice handles.

There are drawbacks however, maintaining the full convex profile could be problematic to some, especially considering the rough work that machetes in general are used for which can lead to minor edge damage due to inclusion contacts. The Goloks will not hold up nearly as well as a machetes in such work due to the soft spine which allows the blade to take a set rather easily, and only partial length edge quench which leaves the tip and choil area are rather soft on purpose to prevent gross blade cracking.

Thick wood isn't a problem for this, unless knotty, however small diameter woods can ripple the edges fairly easily due to the partial hardening. Such contacts need to be limited to the center of the blade which is very hard and can take even very dense wood cutting without harm. This can be difficult on heavily ingrowth woods however where the tip has to be used.

I recently used a couple of new ones, (didn't write a review as they were prototypes), with a new hardening, which turned out to be problematic. However if they do achieve a full edge hardening with a spring spine, they would be very difficult to compete with for thick wood working ability as they have the optimal geometry. They also do quite nicely on light vegetation and small diameter woods, but a decent machete will do just as well there as there is no binding.

Again though these are precision tools, not general utility like a machete, highly optomized due to the geometry. Of course for those who like to sharpen machetes with files, these are not a good choice, as well as those who like to use jigs or systems like the Sharpmaker. There is no reason why you could not apply a secondary bevel if desired, but the full convex profile is one of the main benefits of the blade and if you sharpen it like a machete the edge will thicken rapidly due to the convex primary grind.

The entry models, the Survival Goloks are also not that much more expensive than a decent machete, costing about twice as much.

-Cliff
 
I do have and use the 12 inch machete for yard work. Bushes and tree limbs and it did a good job. Very inexpensive and a super performer. I don't use it for the Amazon jungle, or the Pacific N.W., but it has not failed my expeditions.

I do however prefer my HI khukuris, but they cost five to ten times the money. Sooooo, it is a good deal for what you may demand for a outdoor chopper..:)
 
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